Nato air strikes hit Gaddafi compound in Tripoli

Nato air strikes hit Muammar Gaddafi's compound on Thursday, hours after the Libyan leader was shown on television for the first time since another aerial attack killed his son nearly two weeks ago.

Libyan officials who showed reporters around the scene of the air strike, at Gaddafi's Bab Al Aziziyah compound, said three people had been killed and 25 wounded.

The corner of a two-storey building was blown away, leaving fragments of concrete on the street below. Deep craters were left in two other locations around the compound, which has been targeted several times since Nato began its campaign.

Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said the strikes hit near a spot where dozens of Libyans come every night, some with families, to shout slogans in support of Gaddafi. He denied the compound contained any military facilities.

"The Nato alliance is completely bereft of morality," Ibrahim said.

"No one has the right to say to the people of Libya move away from the cities so we can bombard you."

"This is our country. We are proud of it. We will continue to be a fighting nation," he told reporters.

An official at Nato headquarters said the target it hit overnight was a large command and control bunker complex.

"These locations were known to be command and control facilities engaged in coordinating attacks against civilian populations in Libya," said the official.

"While the possibility of collateral damage will always exist, we go to great lengths to reduce such possibilities."

Earlier, Gaddafi had drawn a line under nearly two weeks of speculation over his fate when Libyan television showed him meeting officials in a Tripoli hotel.

The Libyan leader had not been seen in public since an April 30 strike killed his youngest son and three grandchildren. He made his appearance on Wednesday in trademark brown robe, dark sunglasses and black hat. Gaddafi was shown greeting a group of tribal leaders who support him.

"You will be victorious," an old man told Gaddafi.  

Holding on

Four months into a revolt against his rule, Gaddafi is still holding doggedly onto power despite weeks of NATO strikes on his military and command structures. The conflict has now entered stalemate, with Gaddafi in control of most of the west of the country, while the rebels are hemmed in to their stronghold in the east and a few pockets in the west.

State television reported that the North Korean embassy in Tripoli had suffered major damage in the overnight Nato strikes. The report is likely to revive uncomfortable memories for the alliance of an incident in 1999 when it bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during a campaign against Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.But the Nato official said the North Korean embassy is 500 metres from the target it struck. "It has been alleged that Nato attacked the North Korean embassy; this is simply not true," said the official.

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